The Great Bridge Scandal

by: Alan Truscott

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In 1965, the bridge world was rocked by an accusation of cheating at the world championships in Buenos Aires. The pair involved were Britain's Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro, two of the world's best players. Now, almost fifty years later, the true inside story can be told - the investigation, the accusation, and the very different results of the World Bridge Federation and British Bridge League inquiries.

Alan Truscott, Bridge Editor of the New York Times since 1964, probably knows more than anyone else about the complex world of international bridge. Revised and updated, this new edition of The Great Bridge Scandal tells the full inside story of the Buenos Aires affair, in which Truscott himself played a central role.

Critics’ Viewpoint

"If you have not previously read The Great Bridge Scandal or Story of an Accusation, or would like to obtain an updated version of almost all the source material on this famous scandal, then go and buy both books. Each offers some riveting reading. The, after having read them, you can apply your forensic and logical skills to both cases before finally considering your own verdict on this unfortunate affair."

— ACBL Bulletin

"If you ever read non-instructional books about bridge, or ever ponder the nature of the game and the people who play it, you must read this book. It is fascinating, and sometimes unbelievable. It is a classic, and deserves a grade of A(+1/2)."

— Ron Garber

Alan Truscott

Alan Truscott (April 16, 1925 — September 4, 2005) was a bridge player, author and columnist. He wrote the daily bridge column for The New York Times for 41 years, from 1964 to 2005.

Truscott was born in Brixton, London, and showed early prowess at chess as well as bridge. He attended Whitgift School, and served in the Royal Navy towards the end of World War II. He studied at the University of Oxford from 1947, playing for the university at both chess and bridge. He was a member of the British team (along with Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro) that won a bronze medal at the European bridge championships in 1951, aged only 26. In 1958 he was a member of the British team that finished second, and in 1961 his team won the gold medal in the same event at Torquay. Truscott's team also finished third in the 1962 Bermuda Bowl held in New York City.
He was also involved in the investigation of a cheating scandal at the Bermuda Bowl in Buenos Aires in 1965. A pair of British players (Reese and Schapiro) were accused of using their fingers to pass information about their cards by an American pair (B. Jay Becker and Dorothy Hayden). Truscott believed the British pair were guilty. They were subsequently adjudicated guilty by the World Bridge Federation authorities at the tournament in Buenos Aires. The British Bridge League (BBL) then convened its own inquiry, and several months later the BBL acquitted them. Truscott later published a book on the affair, entitled The Great Bridge Scandal. Reese published his own version of events in The Story of an Accusation.
Truscott wrote 13 books on bridge, and was executive editor of the first three editions of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge.

He had three children (Frances, Fraser and Philip) with his first wife Gloria, but they divorced in 1970. He married his second wife, Dorothy Hayden, an American mathematician and international bridge player who was one of the original accusers in the Buenos Aires affair, in 1972. He died at his holiday home in the Adirondacks.